Still More Bush-Borne Obstables to Overcome in New Administration
Politico
By: Nancy Keenan
January 22, 2009 The Inauguration of President Barack Obama happened in the same week as the 36th anniversary of the Supreme Court’s landmark Roe v. Wade decision.
At night, I sleep better knowing that, in the event of a vacancy on the Supreme Court, we now have a president with a strong record of supporting abortion rights and who believes in the constitutional right to privacy that Roe represents and that the vast majority of Americans support.
Yet it is important to remember that, even in a new and improved environment, the abortion-rights community has obstacles to overcome within the political establishment. A key misconception in some political quarters is that the Democratic gains of the past two cycles are composed of mostly anti-abortion members. This incorrect premise feeds the myth that, consequently, there is no room in the progressive policy agenda for measures related to reproductive rights.
Let’s first address the often-repeated assertion that the gains among Democrats in Congress over the past two election cycles consist mainly of anti-abortion members. The facts don’t square with this myth.
In 2008, voters in states as diverse as Colorado, New Mexico, and Virginia elected 21 new members in the House and five new Senate members who support abortion rights. Adding the results from the 2006 midterm elections, the numbers show a cumulative gain of 44 abortion-rights-supporting members in the House and eight in the Senate.
In the same time span, voters in four states defeated anti-abortion ballot measures, including two attempts to ban abortion in South Dakota.
The facts are clear: Abortion rights have been a winning issue in the past two elections.
Let’s look at the presidential race. Obama didn’t shy away from his support for a woman’s right to choose. He ran TV and radio ads and sent out campaign mail in support of abortion rights. Candidates for the House and Senate stated their support for a woman’s right to choose.
In addition, these candidates distinguished themselves from their anti-abortion opponents by outlining support for policies of change and consensus, such as improving women’s access to birth control, which would prevent unintended pregnancy without undermining women’s access to a safe, legal abortion.
As these candidates-turned-elected-officials assume office, the abortion rights movement finds itself on the cusp of a tremendous opportunity: not only to make significant headway into reversing some of former President George W. Bush’s worst policies, but also to start advancing abortion rights initiatives.
Here are the common-sense, common-ground solutions that we intend to pursue in an era of change where politics as usual is not an acceptable option.
We will work with the incoming Obama administration to reverse Bush’s devastating global gag rule and re-fund the U.N. family-planning program. These policies have blocked women’s access to family planning services that can prevent maternal and child deaths, unintended pregnancies, and the spread of HIV/AIDS and other sexually transmitted diseases. And, contrary to anti-abortion distortions and hyperbole, federal law already prohibits any taxpayer funds from covering abortion services.
In addition, the current economic crisis means that even more women and their families fall through the cracks of our broken health care system. Congress and the Obama administration should increase funding for the federal family planning program, known as Title X, and fix the birth control price crisis, which is an unintended consequence of an amended federal law.
And, in this time of scarce resources, it makes no sense for Congress to keep funneling taxpayer dollars into failed “abstinence-only” programs. Every credible research organization to study this policy concludes that they simply don’t work.
What does? As a former teacher and state superintendent of education, I can say that traditional, honest and comprehensive sex education is what works. It’s time for Congress to catch up with public opinion and reverse the failed abstinence-only policy.
On another front, as Congress and the new administration examine Bush’s policies on choice, they should scrutinize his last-minute regulation at the Department of Health and Human Services. This new rule could go as far as to allow receptionists at health clinics to refuse to help patients interested in referrals for birth control, abortion or other health services, even if the doctor recommends them.
Each of these policy priorities enjoys broad public support, even among Americans who oppose legal abortion. It is time to unite Americans behind common-sense, common-ground policies.
With success comes profound responsibility. We must be an alternative to the divisiveness that defined the Bush era. We must be a movement that, at this critical time in our country’s history, forges a new direction to change the tone of the debate over reproductive rights and makes a difference in the lives of women and their families.
Nancy Keenan is president of NARAL Pro-Choice America.
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